Author's Cut: Howl at the Moon, Love

Hey All,

This one is long overdue but deadlines to a new project had to be met and thank goodness it was met before this weekend. Let’s just say, the school decided to surprise us all and use an unused snow day as a day off for the Friday before Memorial Day weekend, and having off means more sassitude and instigating between my two heathens. It just worked out better this way. Stay tuned for more on that project if you’re interested in fairytale retellings.

As for this post, we’re picking up with a standalone story within The Omega Witch’s universe titled Howl at the Moon, Love. If you haven’t checked it out, the story can be found on GoodNovel. If you have, and know anything about me, I happen to absolutely love being all inclusive with my characters and their arcs. What isn’t a normal essence of what a man or a woman “should” be and how their lives “should” be carried out based on these rules are explored in many of my works and this story is no different.

If you’re familiar with The Omega Witch, skin color isn’t seen the same way that we’ve struggled with in the past here on Earth. Within their realm and species, richness in the pigment of a werewolf’s skin, whether marked in large, two toned, organic splotches, freckles or completely one even tone throughout, holds no negative charge. Goddess Selene created their species in her own right, designing each werewolf as she saw fit, which is also seen as a gift. That’s not to say that some haven’t seen how humans regard them based on these differences.

Setting the tone where our hero, Derek, a Beta werewolf has gone Rogue over feeling disconnected in his pack and in life over such small things, gives a look into how the pack is evolving just past the human and werewolf battles. While Derek still has to figure out his trinity, regardless of trying to ignore its necessity, he still falls victim to human issues such as second guessing himself.

This was inspired entirely by my own battles with Scleroderma at first. I’m a white woman. I’ve experienced scaring my whole life, but over the past few years it’s gotten worse and the herd mentality can be very judgmental. I, like my characters, expected more from my peers and didn’t receive anything other than stares for the most part. The very self inflicting contest of “why can’t you change yourself,” and “living with it is a choice,” were issues I wanted Derek to sort out as a dual skin toned individual.

I felt like our hero shouldn’t have to settle for what his pack was pushing on him and found yet another angle that would aid to his healing, with a forbidden relationship. Humans weren’t to be trusted. They were still dangerous but as times changed and humans evolved, so did the world around the werewolves. Coexisting became the name of the game. However, Derek did not foresee meeting Aislyn, or how he fell helplessly in love with the human.

Aislyn is no simple woman, however. Her connection with Derek is a strong one, regardless of how she meets his wolf first. She’s homeless and lost a lot, but loves him unconditionally which without spoiling it speaks deeply not only to Derek but also Goddess Vivian Zera. Aislyn is able to connect with the energies within the forest and herself that ultimately defines her relationship with Derek and guides them onto the rest of their lives together.

Now, while writing this story I really wanted dance and music to be present throughout it as a way to experience what Aislyn was going through. I may have two left feet in terms of dancing, and I did happen to post on my Dreame Author page on Facebook about being very inspired by it, but Aislyn is the ultimate performance artist. She can feel rhythms that she’ll chase to help her sort out what’s going on. However, just like regular communication, I wanted her not to be able to comprehend everything through the media. It felt more realistic for her own insecurities to rise up, especially when misreading Derek’s reactions to her.

I found that being in crappy relationships or abandoned by people I’ve trusted in the past had delayed my abilities to read people correctly. It sounds bad and is bad. We talk about mental health and how to help people but the source of the issue is often left not found or unreported. Aislyn’s inability to understand Derek’s proposal the first time threw her for a loop. It made her question what they had and if it was gone because of her, but they’re two different species with many very different behaviors. They’re bound to get confused.

Just like in real life.

The difference is what they’re willing to do to get to their new normal despite how hard things are in the name of love, which brings me to my own relationship with my husband. We’ve been through a great many challenges, we’ve seen each other at our darkest hours and at our most caring moments. We do the life “grind” that is far longer than a regular workload.

Life’s a marathon, with or without kids. And as much as it’s typical for these types of stories to want to storm into having mind blowing sex, mateship, pups and a happily ever after to boot, I decided against it. Yes, our lovers explore their relationship and overcome obstacles that get in their way, together, but they do it without launching themselves into having a family right away. Not only is this an important part of any relationship, knowing what your partner wants, but this story in itself covers an interspecies relationship. Who knows if Aislyn will ever bear children for Derek, and who knows if Derek will still be okay with that in the future.

I felt like these were viable questions to hit, especially around the time that this story ended. Mother’s Day is usually a tough one for me given my past with my mother and how I feel about celebrating on the other hand because of losing our first child. Yes, we’ve had more blessings in our lives, but there’s still a part of me that’s broken over it. I felt for not only the women out there like me that struggle with this but also the women out there that are pushed to have kids right away or more kids, as if one isn’t enough, or those that worry about what kind of mother they’d be so they decide against it. I also thought about those wonderful women out there that take on the responsibilities of becoming pet parents and decided to wait on getting right into parenting.

While writing their epilogue I focused on their communication and the attention they still gave each other. I found that it made me feel better in terms of a happily ever after because it gave Derek and Aislyn more time to explore each other and there is something really beautiful about exactly that.

With that, I think I’ll let it settle right there.

Next up are notes on The New Romance Cafe story I submitted for the 2022 Fairytale Retelling Anthology. Usually I would have characters designed and created in order for this but as summer is creeping up on us here, time for being inside is dwindling. I’ll add the cast to this as soon as I can but I have a feeling it will be a while. Thanks for understanding!

Until then, happy reading!